The article on military service in the Statutory Decree No.691 issued by the government has brought up questions of whether the Turkish state is building a new army with radical organizations. The Statutory Decree No.691 was published in the Official Gazette and includes an article that reads: “Persons related to or members of terrorist organizations who are liable and suitable for military service otherwise will be conscripted according to the draft and conscription principles to be determined by the National Defense Ministry, if they are unable to provide a legitimate excuse recognized by law.” The article has caused concerns that opposition members will be forcibly conscripted, while suspicions rise that this will lead to organizations like SADAT, Hezbol-Contra and JİTEM.

THE STATUTORY DECREE WORDING

The latest Statutory Decree includes the following on conscription: “Persons related to or members of or are in contact with terrorist organizations or organizations, structures or groups deemed acting against the national security of the state by the National Security Council who are liable and suitable for military service otherwise will be conscripted to the draft and conscription principles to be determined by the National Defense Ministry, if they are unable to provide a legitimate excuse recognized by law, including absentees and draft evaders.”

ARMY OUT OF GANG ORGANIZATIONS

The amendment is reminiscent of the Turkish state’s and the Ottoman Empire’s method of using “recruit armies”, “Hamidiye Regiments”, paramilitary structures made up of criminals released from prisons used in the Armenian and Dersim massacres and structures like JİTEM and Hezbol-Contra formed in the 1990’s. The question now is whether the Turkish state is creating legal cover for similar structures. The gangs Esedullah, ISIS, Al Nusra, Ahrar Al Sham and Sultan Murad Brigades and gangs imported from Turkic republics will be conscripted through this method.

CONSTITUENTS OF THE NEW ARMY

There are rumors that Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan, with his motto “war until 2023”, doesn’t trust the army anymore in the wake of the July 15 coup attempt and he “wants to build a similar structure to what the US built in Vietnam, and the Revolution Guards in Iran, under the name SADAT.” With the latest amendment, he is rumored to be attempting to form an army out of the İBDA-C, ISIS, Al Nusra, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Ottoman Hearth and similar religious gang organizations.

THE DEFEAT IN WAR

Experiencing a great defeat in both Syria and Northern Kurdistan in his war against Kurds, Erdoğan has returned JİTEM to its duties, expanded the reach of the village guard system, strived to turn people into spies, created paramilitary structures under the guise of ‘private security companies’ and giving them license to use firearms, and now he is rumored to be building a new structure under the umbrella of the Turkish army with the latest amendment.

SADAT COMES UP AGAIN


There are rumors that Erdoğan is attempting to build this new structure over SADAT, the International Defense Consultancy Commerce Company, which was founded by soldiers retired from the TAF and soldiers removed from the army. Brigadier General Adnan Tanrıverdi is the head of SADAT, and Abdurrahman Dilipak is a consultant. SADAT lists its goals as “facilitating an atmosphere of defense industry and defense cooperation among Islamic countries”. They have provided training and arms to groups in the Syrian civil war. SADAT is being utilized domestically as well for the last couple of year, and this is the duty they have been given.

FORCED CONSCRIPTION WAS ON THE RISE

There are various analyses stating that the latest Statutory Decree will open the way for forced conscription of the opposition, but the path to forced conscription had opened before, following July 15. In 2013, an agreement was signed between the National Defense Ministry and the Ministry of Interior Affairs, titled “Sharing Draft Evaders’ and Absentees’ Information Over Electronic Media”. This agreement took the job of finding absentees and draft evaders from the military and gave it to the police, which in turn caused a spike in the number of conscripts via ID controls by the police. Eligible arrestees or convicts were even taken directly from the prisons to the army barracks upon the time of their release. There was no extra article controlling this.